Barack Obama to Formally Accept U.S. Presidential Nomination བོད་སྐད།

The U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, will formally accept his party's nomination Thursday, in a much-anticipated speech wrapping up his party's national convention.

Obama will address a crowd of thousands in an open-air football stadium in Denver, Colorado.

Party notables including former vice president Al Gore and state of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson are also slated to speak to the crowd. And delegates will see a tribute to the civil rights hero Martin Luther King, who delivered his famed "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago today.

The convention nominated Obama and his running mate, Joseph Biden, on Wednesday night. Obama is the first major-party African American nominee for the U.S. presidency.

Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton called Obama the "right man" for the job of president.

Mr. Clinton said Obama's task as president would be to restore the "American dream" of opportunity for all, while rebuilding America's standing in the world.

Bill Clinton's wife, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, also spoke on Wednesday. She called for Obama's nomination by acclamation during the roll call vote of the states. Delegates in the convention hall in Denver cheered, clapped and chanted the Obama campaign slogan "Yes We Can."

Republicans hold their national convention next week in (the cities of) Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, where Senator John McCain will become that party's presidential nominee.